Pio del Pilar

Pio del Pilar (11 July 1860-21 June 1931) was a General of the Philippine Revolutionary Army during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War.

Biography
Pio Isidro y Castaneda was born in San Pedro de Macati, Manila, Philippines on 11 July 1860, and, after meeting Jose Rizal in 1890, he was convinced to distribute his novel Noli Me Tangere. In May 1896, he joined the Katipunan, and he was arrested and tortured by Spanish authorities at the start of the Philippine Revolution, refusing to give up any information on his comrades before he was released. On 9 November 1896, he captured Binakayan from the Spanish, and he was promoted to Brigadier-General after defending Bacoor and Las Pinas on 16 February 1897. He became one of Emilio Aguinaldo's most trusted generals during the Philippine-American War, and, after being defeated at Morong, he was captured by the Americans and exiled to Guam; he later returned to the Philippines after Governor William Howard Taft pardoned him and the other independence leaders in exchange for an oath of allegiance to the United States. He died in 1931 at the age of 70.